


His sister’s request

by Melime



Category: Secrets and Lies (US TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 14:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12083157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime
Summary: Eric refused his sister’s request, and refused, and refused, and refused.Until he couldn’t anymore.





	His sister’s request

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Português brasileiro available: [O pedido de sua irmã](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12083166) by [Melime GreenLeaf (Melime)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melime/pseuds/Melime%20GreenLeaf)



Eric refused his sister’s request.

Of course he had to refuse her. She killed his wife, killed his unborn son, and then lied about it for weeks, even as she saw him fall apart. Amanda took away everything he had, everything he ever cared about, and then she pretended nothing happened. That she even expected him to do anything for her was ridiculous, and she should have known better. And yet…

Amanda’s whole act was pretending she was the only blameless one in a family of criminals, she acted as if she was better than them, the only one to escape that cycle of violence and corruption. However, at one point she was right. Her child was innocent, the only innocent member of that awful family.

Eric refused his sister’s request, but he kept thinking about it.

The problem was, it was easy to say no right away, when he could barely even look at her, the rage and hatred still boiling in his blood. She robbed him of his child, how could he raise hers? It was better for all parts involved, especially that child, that he didn’t get involved, even if it meant that child would be in the system.

Then he remembered Kate, and the son she gave away. The son she still thought about two decades later, the son that, now an adult, was still eager to know her, to know where he came from. Kate did the best choice she could at the time, she wouldn’t have been able to care for him at that age, all alone and rejected by the only family she had. But the same couldn’t be said about him.

Eric’s life was chaotic now, sure, but he was in a far better condition than most people who suddenly found themselves as single parents. Even if his father’s company was a thing of the past, he still had more than enough money to support himself, and he could keep a comfortable lifestyle for several years without any need for work if he so wished. He wasn’t sure he would ever forgive his father, but the three of them grew up without him around, so it wasn’t as if he would be needed now. Patrick would be free in eighteen months, and although Eric was still mad at him over his mistakes, he saw it as an opportunity for his brother to learn, and perhaps finally kick his addiction. And Amanda… he would never forgive her, but that wasn’t necessary, and she herself didn’t seem to have any illusions in that regard.

Forgiving his sister and raising her child were two different things, it was simply a matter of him being able to separate the two in his mind, and the long months after her arrest played a role in this.

Eric refused his sister’s request, and refused, and refused, and refused.

Until he couldn’t anymore.

When that child went from being a gray stain in a black background to becoming a baby girl, too real to deny or think about in hypothetical terms, he couldn’t maintain his no.

Eric had a choice, to do nothing or to help break the cycle that his family had been trapped in since his father decided to form a second family for money, and the months made his choice clear.

Eric wouldn’t forgive Amanda, he couldn’t, not yet, perhaps not ever, but he wouldn’t punish his niece for her mother’s crime.


End file.
